DLSULLIVAN
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Help with odd tomatoes

I have Better Boy tomato plants. Most of these plants have what appear to be multiple tomatoes with a common spike or stem. I have never had this happen before. Can you tell me what causes this? The different parts ripen at different times. Please see attached picture.
Tomatoes-odd IMG_1166.JPG

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I'm feeling exceedingly lazy, so I'm just going to copy and paste this -- slight differences, but same effect as your fruits. (The OP for that thread picked green fruit)

Subject: Distorted Tomatoes
applestar wrote:The odd appearance is created by fused blossoms -- it looks like at least three, possibly 4th blossom in the center, were fused together -- you may have noticed the sunflower like giant blossom this fruit originated from. Underneath, you can see where the co-joined fruits tried to merge together... and failed... leaving odd gaps her and there and scars where they fused.

These cavities can become hiding places for bugs as well as fungal spores and especially in humid conditions can become a source of spoilage.

Also, typically, the fused blossoms did not mature at the same time so that the earliest blossom to be pollinated will develop a few days ahead of the latest pollinated, resulting in uneven ripening and sometimes spoilage if you wait for the entire lumpy fruit to ripen 100%.... But it looks like you picked this one before they had a chance to blush, so I'm not sure if you will see it ripen.

FWIW -- the candidate fruits for those official Giant Tomato contest that are held world-wide are usually varieties that have been selected for this kind of fused mega blossoms -- those can be as many as 8-10 fruits fused together.

What variety is this?

DLSULLIVAN
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Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2016 4:46 pm

Thank you so much for this information. It makes perfect sense. That was so kind of you to take the time to educate me.

Blessings,
DLSULLIVAN



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